Ring of Honor - November 19, 2011

-From Louisville, KY. Our hosts are once again Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness. Tonight we will see a Team Richards Challenge, as Davey Richards battles his training partner, Kyle O’Reilly.

-Mike Mondo wants the TV crew to back off because he takes up a lot of space. He can’t promise he won’t hurt anyone but he doesn’t know his own strength. Mondo will do whatever he must do to show he’s the biggest man in town. The modern day Crash Holly shtick is going to get old really fast.

Alex Silva vs. Mike Mondo

Both men are 0-1 and need a win. They sprint through a series of counters and collide in a Greco Roman knuckle lock. They are tied up by the legs and exchange chops. Still tied up, they roll into a head stand. Wow, I’m actually really impressed. Mondo cheap shots Silva to the floor and connects with a corkscrew plancha. Mondo blows his nose and drop-kicks the face. Mondo continues to target the head. Silva retaliates with a spinebuster. Gut-wrench power bomb by Silva gets 2. Mondo applies a personalized armbar. Silva snaps the neck and blocks a toe hold. Mondo reverses into a face buster and nails a double arm DDT for the win at 4:55. Color me impressed. I was about to write off both guys as scrubs, but they showed a lot here.Winner: Mike Mondo

-Jim Cornette addresses the Kevin Steen situation. Next week he’ll announce whether or not he’ll offer a settlement, but he has a personal response. He denies all of Steen’s claims that he unfairly set the deck against Steen in his match against El Generico, including tampering with the contract and having the referee in his pocket. But hey, this is American, you can sue for anything.

-Next week, Jay Lethal defends the Television title against El Generico. We are treated to footage of Jay Lethal putting himself over. Lethal says Generico fought him like a man, unlike Bennett, who refused overtime in their draw.

Bennett scores a takedown in the early going, but Olivencia slaps the face. Bennett is caught off guard by some quick offense from Olivencia. Bennett rebounds with a spinebuster. Power slam by Bennett but Olivencia powers back with some chops. Bennett plants Olivencia and applies a chinlock. Olivencia fights back with some hard forearms and a knee to the face. Bennett counters but Olivencia reverses into a pinning predicament. The Box Office Smash finishes it at 3:32. Good sprint of a match, a bit too even to call it a squash.Winner: Mike Bennett

-Welcome to Inside Ring of Honor! This week, Davey Richards made a poorly worded announcement on Twitter. It turns out that Eddie Edwards went behind Richards’ back and began training with Dan Severn, and Kyle O’Reilly had to stooge the information back to the champion. Richards says he doesn’t feel anger (yet) but instead confusion and distrust, but mainly hurt. He feels that Edwards has broken their bond, because it was Richards’ idea to seek out Severn. At Final Battle, Richards’ whole world will fit into the ring and he will win.

-Next week, we will see exclusive footage from Dan Severn’s training facility. Yay?

-Last week, The All Night Express confronted Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team in the ring. Meanwhile, the Briscoes have issued a challenge to Cedric Alexander and Caprice Coleman. This is an attempt to embarrass WGTT. The Briscoes are mad that it took them six months to get a shot at WGTT but Coleman and Alexander could just walk into the company and get them right away. It took WGTT 13 minutes to beat Coleman and Alexander, and the Briscoes think they can do it in 3. Coleman and Alexander respond, saying the Briscoes have bit off more than they can chew. They do not fear the Briscoes.

-Davey Richards takes the microphone before his match with Kyle O’Reilly. Richards thinks the fans came here to see a fight. Richards and O’Reilly shake hands and agree that the better man will win. Truth Martini shows up after the ring announcements, presumably to get an up-close look at the action.

Truth Martini is sitting in on commentary. He’s offering a guarantied victory to anyone who sides with him. Meanwhile, O’Reilly and Richards have a competitive feeling out period. Richards looks a bit shocked as O’Reilly matches him move for move. Richards changes the tone by kicking the face. They exchange some hard kicks to the upper body. Richards hooks the arm while applying a Cloverleaf. O’Reilly rebounds with the rolling Butterfly suplexes into a cross arm breaker. Richards plants O’Reilly on the turnbuckles for a running knee strike. Richards basically challenges O’Reilly to fight back and luckily he does. O’Reilly struggles to his feet before the 10 count and eats a running kick to the chest. Cue the commercial! Post-break, Richards is still eating O’Reilly’s lunch. They trade stiff shots but Richards gets the upper hand with a lariat. They trade open hand slaps. O’Reilly scores a jumping knee shot and a running kick to the chest. O’Reilly surprises Richards with some reversals and nails a suplex for a near fall. Richards nails a soccer kick off the apron. O’Reilly ducks a kick, causing Richards to nail the ring post. Missile drop-kick off the apron by O’Reilly! Richards eats a second missile drop-kick in the ring and O’Reilly locks on a guillotine choke. Richards powers to his feet but O’Reilly knees the face. Richards counters into the ankle lock. O’Reilly delivers a tornado DDT and reapplies the choke! They reverse ankle locks. Kozina throws in the towel for O’Reilly at 14:25 (shown). This became really good after the commercial. It serves as a nice preview for the type of match Richards will deliver at Final Battle, ***½.Winner: Davey Richards

-Truth Martini enters the ring and tries to get a word in with Richards. Truth tells Richards that he did something wrong and finds himself on the receiving end of a beating from both Richards and O’Reilly. Team Richards stands tall as we end the show.

Final Thoughts: I’m a little concerned about the build to Richards/Edwards III after this week. Richards is hurt because he had the novel idea of training with Dan Severn, and Edwards beat him to the punch. Maybe it’s just me, but that means Richards has some seriously thin skin. Otherwise, this was a middling episode, as we didn’t get any really big developments, but a lot of key talent got the chance to get over. Middle of the road episodes will help me appreciate the great ones more. Thumbs in the middle.